I decided to make turkey rolls for lunch, so I went out to the garden to pick a big chard leaf and a few pieces of mustard greens. Greg was sitting on the deck, and I mentioned to him that the mockingbirds were hanging out in the garden again this morning, but they still were not singing. We remarked about how unusual it was for mockingbirds to be so quiet.

I brought my greens inside and laid out the first turkey roll — big leaf of chard, thin slices of turkey, a few pieces of mustard greens, and a little Grey poupon mustard. It was a beautiful …

Last month I decided to migrate from PC to MAC to be able to do what I want to do with Choosing To Be Fit. I bought an iPad Mini to capture video in the field and an iMac for my office.

There have been times during this transition process when I’ve been filled with fear — that this was all too much for me, that I couldn’t learn all this, that “who do I think I am at 69 to think I can learn like I used to” kind of thinking.

This year Greg and I thought about what we wanted for Christmas and decided that our gifts should have something to do with fitness. One day I was driving past the Ojai Lumber Yard and saw a sign for pre-made, gopher-proof planter boxes. Since the extraordinary number of gophers in the back yard of our new home is the reason we have thought twice about starting a vegetable garden, I decided to stop and see what the lumber yard had come up with.

Beautiful planter boxes lined on the bottom with chicken wire were stacked outside the office. The owner told me they had made …